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Have you heard about the Blue Monster?

There’s a little rumor going around that there is a Blue Monster living in the Tiny Elm House in our outside play space. Legend (among the children) tells that this monster, though very very small, is quite scary… but has a sweet tooth! Our monster LOVES cupcakes! And Birthday cake! And cookies! (with sprinkles of course!)

A few weeks ago we made snow cakes to appease the Blue Monster, and when it still wasn’t done being scary we did some color mixing in the studio to work on some cupcake paintings (with sprinkles, or course!) to bring to our resident monster.

In my childhood we had a house ghost named Ralph which all sorts of humor, pranks, and natural phenomena were blamed on. We still look back on Ralph the Ghost in my family as a beloved and funny part of our way of explaining and exploring mysteries, feeling states, and storytelling. Do you tell stories with your kids about imaginary friends? What do you think and feel when they bring up witches, monsters, dragons, or ghosts? I’m enjoying watching a mythology form among the children, its evolution and the ways they talk about and engage with their Blue Monster.

3 Comments on “Have you heard about the Blue Monster?”

I love that book, Becca (for those of you who don’t know it- it’s a Sesame Street book from the late 70’s or early 80’s featuring Grover- a blue monster!) and I love what Sesame Street did by de-mystifying monsters into something that could be a creature who wasn’t just scary but also a friend! A teacher! Someone silly! A kid? A flawed and funny individual? Some ways I’ve been asking questions about the Elm House Blue Monster is to treat it much as I would curiosity around an animal- where does it like to sleep? What does it like to eat? Is it loud or quiet? Big or small? The answers differ based on the kid or their mood, and our story gets more interesting every day…! 🙂 -Laurie